Dark Phoenix had the worst opening weekend of any X-Men film

X-Men: Dark Phoenix has bombed at the box office, debuting to the worst opening weekend in the franchise's history.

Against a budget of US$200 million (NZ$300.9m), Dark Phoenix bombed with a US$33m (NZ$49.6m) intake at the US box office over the weekend, according to Variety. It lost the top spot to animated feature The Secret Life of Pets 2, which earned US$47.11m (NZ$70.9m).

Internationally, Dark Phoenix fared better, opening to US$107m, bringing its global debut to $140m. However, as Deadline reports, that's substantially lower than the opening weekends of X-Men's recent instalments: Days of Future Past ($262.9m), Logan ($247.4m) and Apocalypse ($166.6m).

That makes Dark Phoenix's opening weekend the worst of any X-Men film, earning well under The Wolverine (2013)'s $53.1m debut.

Deadline predicts the film could be on track to lose an estimated $100m-$200m.

The superhero film, expected to be the last in the X-Men franchise after Disney's merger with Fox, opened to abysmal reviews, earning a 23 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Critics branded the film, starring Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, as the "worst ever" X-Men instalment, with Rolling Stone's Peter Travers likening it to "a dying fish".

The film was delayed twice and underwent considerable reshoots after a test screening received negative responses.